Supremacy of Christ: Putting On Heaven

Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

o [This sermon takes the form of a dialogue-prayer, as when a pastor is
preparing and consulting with God in preparation to preach the text.]

o Intro: Good Morning Abba, I gotta tell you first, that sun streaming in my
window is like, like heaven! It makes my face warm. I almost can’t believe how
much more “joyful” I feel inside when the sun shines. Is there a connection
between physical things you created and spiritual things? I mean, for example,
am I just a ball of walking chemicals, or are there really such things as purpose,
joy, love, personality?
o (You know the answer to that, silly. )

o Yeah I know. Well, on to Colossians 3. I need to preach to your people
Sunday on this ‘cause it’s next in the book so what do you want me to tell
them? I’m guessing Christ is pretty central since the whole letter seems to
emphasize it.

o You know, Christ is the image of the invisible God.
o Christ is the fulness of the deity in bodily form,
o We have that fullness living in us, so we don’t need angels, rule books,
etc.

o But about chapter 3 and all those instructions about how we must live.

That’s a lot to put on!

0 I see a note I obviously wrote in the margin of one of my bibles once upon a
time. It’s a question: Is all this (ch3) possible because of my hope of heaven?

1 guess I ask because the opening verses are all about heaven. It seems like
you’re saying...

o 1. Thinking on Heaven enabies me to iive a new iife on earth .

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Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

o So Abba, what is it about heaven that enables me to live the new life? And
just exactly how am I supposed to “set my mind on things above.”?

o Do you mean dream about it? Maybe tell stories about it? Discuss it?
Sing about it?

o (Well done, Randy. You’re on to It. Didn’t the Negro Spiritual songs grow out
of black slavery? Remember?
o Swing Low Sweet Chariot,
o There Is a balm In Gilead
o Steal away

o Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

o All songs about a hope In Christ, my son. Nobody survives very Iona without
hope . Christian slaves told and sang their hope just to find the power to go on
In enslaving lives.)

o Ok. That reminds me of what Blaise Pascal once wrote: “All men seek
happiness. This is without exception. This is the motive of every action of
every man, even those who hang themselves.”
o So even the person ending this life due to pain, and sorrow, does so
because his soul longs for joy, and happiness. He hopes there’s
somehow less pain in death.

o That reminds me too of what Neil Plantinga wrote in his book sin. He
said, “Sin has to look it’s best to do it’s worst.” How true. When I sin, it’s
because I think somehow I’m gonna feel good in the end.

o (But do you really, Randy? In Inviting you to set your heart on heaven,
higher things, I am Inviting you to see a bigger picture. To set vour sights on

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Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

heaven is to know that there is purpose, good purpose in the little details of
your life because it’s all heading you to your good reward with me.)

o Remember what my servant David discovered. In fact, read it with the
congregation...

o “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in
your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. ” Psalms 16:11,
NIV.)

o Yes, Lord. I remember. I wish I knew what those eternal pleasures were. I’ll
bet eternal pleasures are really something.

o (They are. And the hope of them can empower you even to death. 9/1 1
was an example of some of my creatures willing to die for what they
thought would bring them eternity with the harem of their choice. They
died lost though hopeful. And desiring so very little, I might add. A mere
harem! The pleasures of heaven are far more advanced than just lots of
earthly tingles.

o B. Tell me Randy, when you picture heaven, what do you see?)

o Well, I don’t see robes and clouds, that’s for sure. I see things like you
told Isaiah.

o You know, chapter 11 : wolf will lie down with the lamb...

o The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the
hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s
nest.” Isaiah 11:7, 8, NIV.

o I see Isa. 35, the desert blooming like a garden...

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Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

c> Blind people seeing again.

c> Deaf people hearing Mozart’s, Andrea Bocelli, Tomlin, Bruce
Hornsby & I don’t know if she believes in you. Lord, but Lady Gaga
has an amazing voice,
o I see lame leaping, maybe break-dancing,
o I see the burning sand becoming a pool,
o When I think of heaven I see that hollow in the Smokey Mountains
where you can drive through and see bear, and flocks of wild turkeys,
and foxes. But I’ll bet in heaven they’re tame,
o I see Belgic castles (and the confession too).

o I see Caribbean islands and white sand beaches, with crystalline green
water.

o I see people I know free from alcohol and other addictions, smiling
when we talk, taking your name in praise on their lips, stepping away
from friends for a moment to welcome someone else,
o Revelation said there would be no more sin, crying, pain, tears -so I
assume some of my relatives with mildly horrifying characteristics and
challenging personalities will be finally mature, kind, gentle. I’m hoping I
will finally be so as well,
o C. What do you see, Abba?

o (I see my children being kind to one another, sharing, surprising each other,
delighting to delight another person or to bring them joy.
o I see affirmation and appreciation.

o I see eagerness in the eyes of listeners to another’s story, instead of
bobbing heads,
o I see empathy.

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Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

o / see husbands who love their wives, and don’t exasperate their kids,
o I see employees who do their best even when no one is looking,
o I see wives who show respect to their husbands,
o I see Dad’s who consider their children remarkable people such that
they enjoy their presence, soak up their innocent love, and don’t care
much about “me time” or the paper.

o Oh, and Randy, I see it all the time. It’s happening around me every minute.)

o I gotta say, it sounds strangely... familiar. Have you been reading
Colossians?

o (If by reading you mean “wrote it”, you could say that.)

o So as I think about how good life could be, or should I say, will be for us in
Christ, -you’re saying I can begin living that way myself?

o (Exactly, Randy.

o “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on
what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit
have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is
death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;” Romans
8:5, 6, NIV.

o I inspired Paul to write that too. When you set vour sights on heaven, you
get earth thrown in. You get life now with peace,
o As for heaven, people sometimes think that because no one can earn
heaven, neither is there any reward there, as though rewards are payments.

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Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

They confuse the two. Rewards are mere gifts of love. And I love to reward.
Think about some of my promises...

o “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones
because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his
reward.”” Matthew 10:42, NIV.

o “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without
expecting to get anything back. Then vour reward will be great, and you
will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and
wicked.” Luke 6:35. NIV.

o “you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he
does, whether he is slave or free.” Ephesians 6:8, NIV.
o Then of course, there’s v23-24 in Col. 3... When you live with heaven in your
eye, you will find the power the eludes people who don’t really love my Son. v4
o That’s how good I am, Randy. Those who love mv son, and live like
heaven, get all of his fulness, all of his riches, and all mv rewards -with
none of their shame or sins. I remember everything good about my
followers and everything bad I forget because I forgave it.
o When you keep this truth, which is summed up in my son, Christ, -
when you keep this in your sights, it’s not so hard to put on his virtues like
forgiveness, compassion, kindness.

o I’m wondering about another angle here, Lord. I know it seems almost a
reversal from the first thing you’ve said, but could living by these instructions in
Colossians 3 actually be a way to set my heart above, on better things, on
heaven? Kinda like one leads to the other and vice versa?

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Putting on Heaven The supremacy of Christ #5

o (In part, Randy, that’s true. 2. Living the new iife on earth, as it is in
heaven, actuaiiy enabies me to set my mind on heaven.

o Look at the text.

o v18f That’s the way life is in heaven: honoring, loving, serving. So
basically, those with Christ in them are able to start living heaven on
earth. You can live already in the experience of what you will be fully
given at the end of time!

o Read v5 again Randy... Stab it dead. It will only keep you from being
your true self, the one Christ made you. (Eph.4:18) Theologians used to
call it “mortification of the flesh”.

o See, you have 2 natures, now that you belong to my son. Everyone
without Christ has only 1: the sinful nature otherwise called “the flesh”.

But you have 2. You also have the spiritual nature. It’s Christ in you.

You actually have the option to chose better ways, godly ways for godly
reasons, ways I will bless. Now which one are you gonna feed?)

o Pardon, Abba? I don’t get it.

o (There was a man who raised Alaskan huskies. He also brought them to dog
fights. He would take 2 dogs from his yard and have them fight. People would
bet on the winner. So would he. He always guessed the right one and so
made a lot of money. One day his son asked him how he seemed to always
know which dog would win. He said, “Son, I always bet on the one I feed. ”
o That’s what I mean, Randy. The life you experience is always the life
you feed. Feed your spirit nature, and it will win.)

o Got it, Lord.

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o B. (When are people gonna see that their false life is cursed. One of my
prophets put it like this.

o “For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the
corrections of discipline are the way to life, keeping you from the immoral
woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife. Do not lust in your
heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the
prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon
your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being
burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no-one who touches her
will go unpunished.” Proverbs 6:23-29, NIV.
o Not only am I against it, but it never delivers for them,
o The alcoholic never has enough alcohol
o The promiscuous one never gets enough sex.
o The pornographer never has enough pictures,
o The rich man never has enough property,
o These things don’t fill human emptiness. Only I do that, Randy.)

o Yes, Lord. I’ve found that to be very true, the hard way more often than I’d
care to admit.

o (You don’t have to. I already know each one. The sad part for me, is
that every day, even many of my followers, the only ones who even stand
a chance of living heaven-like here -even they daily scoop fire onto
themselves and are profoundly scarred.

o Their lives could be characterized by heaven if they chose to change.)

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o Conclusion:

o So that’s it, Father? You want me to tell the church that if they set their minds
on Jesus, and heaven, they would find the power more available to live well on
earth?

o And if they listened to your word and obeyed it, they’d find their minds rising
above the mind-numbing addictions of this life to a greater joy?

o (That’s right, tell them. And tell them they have no idea how much I love
them. And tell them they can talk with me moment by moment round-the-
clock.)

o Can I tell them to put in a swimming pool?
o (Randy stick to the topic.)

o Yes, Lord. I’ll tell them, but it may be a long sermon. You said a lot. By the
way, I can’t wait to get to heaven to see you face to face.

o (You have no idea!)

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